Will working part time affect my FAFSA pell grant? please help I need answers ASAP?

Paying for College
1

Hey guys/gals,

So currently I am attending a California State University school.

Right now I am receiving FAFSA pell grant and cal grant.

My EFC stands at 001685 and I’m receiving around $5000 pell grant (after tuition costs).

I have a part time job offer that I really want to take due to the fact that I have some time to work and I wanna help out my family.

My question is I need my FAFSA pell grant and cal grant badly, but I also want to work part time.

Exactly how much can I make in order to keep receiving my financial aid?

I heard from people as long as it’s under $6000 the whole year I will continue to receive 100% of my financial aid.

But I also heard other stuff too that if it’s over $5000 my pell grant will get reduced so I need some clarification on this please.

Please answer ASAP otherwise this job offer will go bye bye for me :frowning:

Thanks guys!

2

@kelsmom will probably know the answer. You should search her out.

3

I’m not sure of the exact number…but you won’t lose your whole Pell amount even IF you work.

Working is terrific…and you could do it to help pay for college plus get some work experience for you resume.

4

How much do you think you’d earn this year?

What is the hourly salary? How many hours per week would you work?

5

@mom2collegekids $10 an hour, maybe 15 hrs a week

6

if you work about 11 hours per week at a job that pays about $10-11 an hour, you should be ok.

7

@mom2collegekids What is the max amount you can earn without fafsa amount being cut or decreased?

8

You aren’t looking at this correctly. Pell is not going to be reduced dollar for dollar with your earnings, so it is still going to be more profitable to work. A student who qualifies for full Pell is probably okay to earn up to $6200/yr before that income will start reducing Pell. Of course this depends on whether your parents income and assets stay the same too.

Even if you earn over that protected amount, only 20% is going to be counted, so if you earn $100 over, your Pell MIGHT be reduced $20 - you’d still have $80 less taxes. If you get a work study job, you won’t even have to worry about the taxes.

Get a job, work what you can.

9

Same editing problem someone else reported on another thread. Sorry for the ‘code’ answer above.

Edited to add: 2016 income will not show up on fafsa until you are filing for the 2017-18 year. It makes no sense to limit your income in 2016 for a benefit you might not see, and even if you do, won’t see for more than 2 year. Work now, and in 2017, and you’ll make a lot more than that $5000.

10

2015 income will be used for 2016-17 and 2017-18 FAFSA.

2016 income will be used for 2018-19 FAFSA.

Also first of all, how much do your parents make? Your income might not even matter if theirs is low enough.

Second, is the income from a federal work study program or another job?

If it is FWS income it will not be counted against student EFC, there is a line on the FAFSA (you report that 2016 income on the 2018-19 FAFSA), where you can list “income from need based employment”. It will then subtract it.

Third, the student has several deductions to his income before it counts toward EFC.

If you started next week and made $150 a week for the remaining 47 weeks this year you would make about $7000 in 2016.

11

From the EFC formula 2016-17 http://ifap.ed.gov/efcformulaguide/attachments/100615EFCFormulaGuide1617Attach.pdf

ALLOWANCES AGAINST STUDENT INCOME

  1. 2015 U.S. income tax paid

37.State and other tax allowance
(Table A7)

38.Social Security tax allowance

(Table A2)

39.Income protection allowance
$6,400

40.Allowance for parents’ negative Adjusted
Available Income

  1. TOTAL ALLOWANCES

So from your income all of these items (except maybe number 40) are going to be deducted. So I don’t think there is much if anything going to be counted as “student available income”, which would be assessed at 50% for EFC.